


Givin' a dog a Bone

by Gia279



Series: Practice Ficlets [8]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Ficlet, M/M, Pets, Possible Aliens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 11:41:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13763364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gia279/pseuds/Gia279
Summary: Stiles’s neighbor was an alien. He had to be. His house was always dark and silent during the day, but starting in the evening and going until sunrise, he had lights on, and music playing, and—“Well,” Derek sighed, “he’s not a werewolf, a vampire, or a faerie. Is it possible he just works nights?” He closed the door behind him, flipping the lock automatically.





	Givin' a dog a Bone

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:** "Business as UNusual" 
> 
> LOL okay so this or the next one will be the last I post for a bit probably. I've gotten some practice I think. But I want to continue later! I will. I just want to finish Revolution first. Thanks for reading, and for your feedback! I think I've got a handle on it now, but who knows! <3

Stiles’s neighbor was an alien. He had to be. His house was always dark and silent during the day, but starting in the evening and going until sunrise, he had lights on, and music playing, and—

“Well,” Derek sighed, “he’s not a werewolf, a vampire, or a faerie. Is it possible he just works nights?” He closed the door behind him, flipping the lock automatically. 

“No, because he never _leaves_. Derek, his car hasn’t moved in four days.”

“How do you know?”

Stiles didn’t deign to answer that. “He checked his mail at midnight yesterday. Today. Whatever.”

“So?” Derek grabbed a Gatorade from the fridge. He was all sweaty and shirtless from mowing the lawn, which was normally enough to distract Stiles from all manner of things, but this time he was focused. Derek had mowed their weird neighbor’s lawn, too, as a sort of welcome to the neighborhood thing, which was just a front so he could get close enough to sniff for oddness. 

“So, he’s got to be _something_.” Stiles bent to pet their dog, Eka, who was keeping vigil with Stiles at the window. She was good like that. 

“He isn’t. He’s just a night owl.” Derek drank half the bottle in one gulp; Stiles got a little distracted watching his throat move as he swallowed. 

“Dude, Derek, listen. He _moonwalked_ back into his house last night. He wears clothes from the seventies. Are you sure he isn’t a vampire?”

“Definitely. Vampires are impeccably polite, he would have introduced himself right away when he smelled me.” 

“So alien it is.” 

Derek sighed. “He isn’t an alien.” He poured food into the bowl labeled _Clyde_ and tapped the edge until the cat hopped down from on top of the fridge. 

Stiles glanced back at him thoughtfully. He’d been trying to find a way to get three other pets, they didn’t have to be cats, but Derek always looked skeptical when he mentioned it. 

Eka let out a soft _woof_.

Stiles whipped around. 

UPS was dropping off a huge box at weird neighbor’s door; he didn’t answer when they knocked, as usual. 

“Clearly suspicious, well spotted.” He scratched behind Eka’s ear, smiling when she leaned into it. 

“What should we do for dinner?” Derek called.

“Tacos,” Stiles muttered. He was watching weird neighbor’s curtains to see if they twitched. 

“We aren’t having tacos again.” Derek left the kitchen and bit the tip of Stiles’s ear lightly. “Stop obsessing. You look like a stalker.” 

“I’m not stalking anyone.” Stiles leaned back and sighed. 

“So? Dinner?”

“I could make pasta?”

Derek shook his head. “Want to make pizza?”

Stiles finally looked away from the window and smiled. “Sure.” He knew Derek only wanted to make pizza when he wanted to spend time with him. “Let’s take Eka out first.”

“Okay.”

Eka always strained at the leash to go far around weird neighbor’s house on her walks. This, of all things, was the only reason Derek didn’t _completely_ dismiss Stiles’s obsession with the neighbor: Eka didn’t like his house. 

Clyde, on the other hand, was constantly over there, rolling around in the grass. Stiles was half convinced his yard was laced with catnip. 

“He’s probably just an eccentric. Might be a writer.” Derek pulled on Stiles’s hand until he was close enough to tuck under his arm.

“He probably keeps his victims in the basement,” Stiles muttered. 

Eka woofed—suspiciously, Stiles thought. He patted her side. “Good girl.”

Derek rolled his eyes. 

 

They made their pizzas, and talked about work and Scott and Allison’s baby, Eka’s broken toy, and Clyde’s “gift” of the day (read: bird). Stiles made a conscious effort not to talk about their odd neighbor. He even managed to keep his mouth shut through their nightly movie.

Derek sighed. “Seriously?”

“I don’t have to work tomorrow,” Stiles said without trying to evade. “I’m going to watch him all night.”

“All night?” Derek nuzzled his shoulder, nudging his shirt aside to lick at his skin. “There are other things you could be doing all night, don’t you think?”

“Umm…” Stiles turned, their mouths meeting.

 

The music started just past midnight. It was faint, nothing even remotely enough to disturb the neighborhood, but Stiles heard it. 

Derek’s hand flexed on his thigh. “Don’t,” he mumbled without opening his eyes. 

Stiles tried to ignore it. “I’m just gonna get some water.” 

“Sure you are.” Derek rolled onto his stomach and curled into his pillow, huffing.

Stiles wrinkled his nose at him and got out of bed, pulling on some sweatpants. 

Eka made a noise and followed him to the kitchen, staring at him until he gave her an ice cube in her water bowl. Diva. 

He stood at the sink, sipping his cup, and concluded that there was no harm in checking the front window. How could there be? The guy was probably inside, being his weird self. If Stiles could see for himself that there was nothing _to_ see, he’d be able to sleep.

Stiles stepped around Eka and to the living room; she followed him a second later. 

Lights shone from the uneven curtains in weird neighbor’s house, music gently wafting from a slightly opened, second floor window. 

“Eka, what is he doing?” Stiles asked.

Her tail thumped against the side of his leg in response.

“Stiles,” Derek grunted from the bedroom. “Stop watching him.”

“Go back to sleep,” he replied without looking away from the window.

Lightning struck the neighbor’s house.

Stiles yelped, flinching away from the sudden flash of light. 

Derek bolted out to the living room. “What happened?”

“Lightning. Grab the kitchen fire extinguisher, maybe call the fire department,” Stiles ordered. He ran to the coat closet and got their emergency extinguisher, then outside. He banged his fist on the door. “Hey!” he yelled. “Everything okay?!”

The door opened, revealing a dazed-looking man wearing high-waisted striped pants, a yellow button up, and a weird sweater vest. “Was that _lightning_?”

“Yes! Is anything smoking?” Stiles demanded. “Sometimes lightning can start a fire in the walls or attic of a house.”

“Well, I don’t really think-”

“Yes,” Derek said, rushing up behind Stiles. “There’s smoke in the kitchen.” He bolted past, nearly knocking the man over. 

“Oh, that’s my-” their neighbor began, but Derek was already in the kitchen. 

“There isn’t any rain,” Stiles said. “Or clouds. Or…” He looked at his neighbor. 

Weird neighbor smiled. “Why don’t you come in?”

Their weird neighbor was a wizard, a type of magic user who had no scent because it was technically borrowed magic. He wasn’t great at it, hence the lightning, his name was Ted, and the smoke Derek had smelled was the blender, which had been on fire and was put out by their fire extinguisher. 

“I do most of my magic at night to minimize witnesses to the disasters,” Ted explained, serving them mugs of hot chocolate. He’d burned through his coffee the night before. Not from drinking it. From starting a fire on it by accident.

“I see.” Stiles took a sip, avoiding Derek’s eye. He was right in the first place; the guy _wasn’t_ human.

“I was always a night owl anyway,” he said with a shrug and a little smile. “No one pays attention to what you’re doing if you’re doing it while they’re sleeping. That sounds weird,” he lamented. “Anyway, now I work as an editor online, so it works in my favor.” 

Derek nodded. “That makes sense.”

Ted beamed. “Yes, I thought so, too.”

“We’d better get out of your hair. It was nice meeting you, Ted.”

“Oh, you, too! You’re welcome by anytime.” He waved cheerily as they left.

“Don’t,” Stiles said as they were crossing the street.

“I _told_ you he was just an eccentric and to leave the guy alone,” Derek said as soon as they were in their own yard. 

“You also said he as human! He has magic, that totally counts as non-human.”

Derek grabbed him around the waist and kissed him. “I love you, even though you’re a weirdo stalker.” 

Stiles rolled his eyes. “I love you, too.”

 

Two months later, a woman moved in next door to Stiles and Derek’s house. She had mounds of cat and dog toys, beds, and paraphernalia, but no discernable pets. Stiles and Ted took turns watching her. Derek thought they were both insane.


End file.
